The winds roared their displeasure as it stirred the seas below into a fury. The waves battered the galleon and tossed her around like a toddler did during a temper tantrum. Gabriel glanced at her sister as she ordered the crew in order to just survive to port. It started out so well too with the plunder of a port town near the heart of Hogwarts. The truce was in place and it was still technically illegal but flying the red flag of Durmstrang they took the medium town with the speed and ferociousness of possessed starved animal seeing a feast. The town was rumored to have a treasure beyond measure that gave some sort of power to the owner. Gabriel was with her sister as they took the town and brandishing falchions along with the men and women that followed her sisters crew they reveled in the chaos. Fleur was the beautiful Oleander from Beaubaxton. She was as beautiful as she was deadly and was as sharp as the sword she wielded, the black rose, made of damascus steel. She wasn’t the first pirate queen in their line but Apolline was not her grandmere. Their father took the wheel when the original pirate queens only daughter had shown herself to be attached to the land. They ransacked the town but all there was in the crude looking but solid buildings were the usual ‘treasure’ until they came upon a locked door that wouldn’t open. It took all the fury of Gabriel and Fleur to break through the defenses as they hit it was a burning inferno and all there was in the room was a single necklace, simple in design, that bore a crest pendant with mysterious squiggles that was in the old language.
They took it and after splitting the booty between the crew they set sail towards their home base. Fleur had picked only the necklace and gazing at it in wonder almost put it into the pile of plundered treasure. “It’s cursed! Ye shouldn’t have taken it, cap’n,” the seer said as she stood as far away from it as the room would allow. “It’s powerful. Surely even you can feel that?” Fleur asked as she gripped the chain tight in her her. “Aye, that’s the problem. It must have been made by the hands of one of the fallen gods in their prime to still be this powerful,” the seer said with her voice and hands trembling. “Shut up, ye yellow-bellied coward. If the captain wants it then she can have it. It’s her right. It’s probably just some trinket that they put in as a decoy,” the first mate barked at the seer. He was the least sensitive to magic of all their crew and only able to use some magic. Both the seer and Fleur went quiet for a moment. Deep in their heart they knew that whatever was in her hand wasn’t just a shiny trinket. Yet as the others pitched in saying that the seer was usually wrong and that the first mate was right neither felt strongly enough to protest. Gabrielle saw the seer and Fleur nod and dread settled in her stomach. Whatever happened next, this wasn’t going to end well.
Immediately after Fleur put it on at the crews insistence things rapidly descended into uncontrolled chaos. First the food was discovered to taste like ash no matter how it was cooked, the rat population on the ship rapidly swelled, and then they lost a sail in the course of a few days. Then the winds that were quiet and calm suddenly swelled to a furious pace only three leagues away from when the border between hogwarts and beaubaxton was. It wasn’t long before most of their crew drowned as they were flung off the boat and sank into the tumultuous and treacherous waters below. It only calmed once Fleur and Gabrielle were left alone in the suddenly quiet sea, far from shore, and only a piece of driftwood keeping them both afloat. They held on as the waves suddenly gentle pushed them to shore and both fell unconscious once they crawled onto the beach and collapsed. Gabrielle woke first but could only blink rapidly. She tried to move her hands, feet, and then just one finger or toe but her body couldn’t or wouldn’t obey. The ceiling was thatched and she tried to summon up any bit of power to break the spell before a sharp aged female voice barked out from somewhere she couldn’t see as a shadow grew larger with the sound of leather on wood coming closer.
“I don’t know what you think you are doing, young lady, but there’s a reason why I paralyzed you. You and I assume your sibling were found on the beach among the flotsam of a ship. You and your sister nearly died several times under my care and so help me god if you agitate your injuries then I won’t heal you, understand?” the woman said as she felt someone check her temperature. An aged face of a healer appeared and less irate and in a softer tone the woman spoke again, “Blink once if you want to say yes and twice for no.” Gabrielle blinked once and nodding the healer took off the paralysis on her head and neck. She turned to see her sister in the other bed, still asleep, but pale and clearly recovering from grievous injuries. “Now you understand, lass? You are in a bit better shape but rest now. I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat and let you know if your sister wakes up.” The healer said. Gabrielle nodded too fast and her world spun a little as the matronly woman sighed, “Careful now. Here, drink this- it will give you dreamless sleep…”
Gabrielle swallowed it compliant and her head felt too heavy with her eyelids suddenly unable to stay open. She blinked slowly, trying to keep them open a little longer, but in moments her world was black and her head hit the pillow. She faded into and out of consciousness several times after. Each time the food or drink was spiked with something and she fell unconscious almost immediately after. Finally, what must have been several days later, she sat up and turned to where her sister lay. The wounds hadn’t healed but she was still breathing as she watched the blanket rise and fall with each breath. “Slow down, lass. I don’t want you to get hurt after I barely healed you,” the healer said, “but now that you’re conscious- I have a few questions. Who are you?” “I’m Gabrielle. My sister is Fleur. Thank you for helping us,” Gabrielle said. “It’s my job to heal people. Thanks are welcome but ultimately unnecessary. What were you doing before you washed up on the beach?” the healer asked.
Gabrielle tried to remember but clutched her head in as a sudden burst of pain flashed. She whimpered and watched the healer sigh and nod. The look on her face was resigned and almost expectant of the outcome. She stared at the simple necklace on Fleurs’ chest. Grimacing the healer stroked the hair of Fleur gently. “Well, that’s to be expected considering, lass. I suspect I know whom you are- and who your sister is but you probably don’t. I suppose we’ll have to wait until your memory comes back or…” the healer glanced at Fleur. “Is she awake yet?” a male entered the room and Gabriellele stared. His eyes were the first thing she gaped it openly. They were green but almost glowed with repressed power, and his presence was as strong as her grandmere. He had a square jaw, larger than average ears, and moved more like a predator towards her sister. Physically he was built solidly like a tree, arms wide and thick with muscles, his legs were equally robust and sturdy. “No, but her sister is,” the healer looked at Gabriellele. “Gabriellele,” the man said her name with such venom that she flinched at the glare he gave her. “Harry- she doesn’t remember. Gabriellele, this is master- I mean Lord Harry Potter, admiral of the Hogwarts fleet.”